It’s Sunday, August 7, and I’m off to Poznan at noon to lecture at the University. Posting will be light until after my return on Tuesday (if I can successfully negotiate the Polish trains). Grania will be handling the Hili dialogues and anything else that seems appropriate.

On this day in 1890, Anna Månsdotter became the last woman in Sweden to be executed—for the murder of her daughter in law; it’s a strange and incestuous tale. And on this day in 1947, Thor Heyerdahl’s raft the Kon-Tiki finished its voyage by running aground on a Pacific Island; it was an attempt to prove that Polynesians could have rafted from the Pacific islands to South America. We now know that humans actually came to the Americas across the Bering Strait about 15,000 years ago. I read Heyerdahl’s account of the trip, Kon-Tiki, over and over again as a child, along with the adventures of Richard Halliburton. (Who’s old enough to remember those books?)

Notables born on this day include Mata Hari (1876), James Randi (1928; he’s 88 today), Garrison Keillor (1942), and Charlize Theron (1975♥). Those who died on this day include Oliver Hardy (1957, of Laurel and Hardy fame), Peter Jennings (2005; was it really 11 years ago?), and Judith Crist (2012). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili, who has apparently been reading Darwin’s Origin, wants to illustrate it for me:

In Polish:

Jerry: What else are you going to show me?

Hili: A tangled bank.

Jerry: Co mi jeszcze chcesz pokazać?
Hili: Zarośnięty brzeg.

In Winnipeg, Gus was told that he can’t drive his boat without a license, so his “polar bear” plate was affixed to his boat-box. Now, I’m told, he’s asking for a car. He also insisted on having a Canadian flag, which he’s started to nom.

I visited Leon and his staff on the grounds of their future home, and Leon gave me a typical cat greeting:

Leon: Welcome, Jerry. What do you have for me?

We’re already into the third day of August, 2016, and it’s Esther Day, commemorating the death of blogger and author Esther Earl, who succumbed to cancer at age 16 on this day in 2010. Earl was the inspiration for the bestselling book and movie The Fault In Our Stars, a movie that’s available on every flight I take, but which I can’t bear to watch.

Also on this day in 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail with his three ships from Spain, ultimately arriving in the Caribbean islands and Cuba (he did not land in North America). In 1811, this day marked the first ascent of the Jungfrau by the Meyer brothers, and, in 1936, Jesse Owens won the 100-meter dash at the Berlin Olympics, upsetting Hitler.

Notables born on this day include Rupert Brooke (1887), Tony Bennett (1926; he’s 90 today, and still singing!), and Martin Sheen (1940). Those who died on this day include Joseph Conrad (1924), Colette (1954), Lenny Bruce (1966), Henri Cartier-Bresson (2004), and Bobby Hebb (2010). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is making jokes about my book:

Jerry: And what are we going to talk about?

Hili: Facts; there is no use talking about faith.

Jerry: I o czym będziemy rozmawiać?
Hili: O faktach, nie ma co mówić o wierze.

In Wroclawek, Leon is complaining that his specially ordered treats haven’t arrived. What a spoiled cat!

Leon: Oh, no! They didn’t deliver my treats from Ontario* again.

*Ontario is a Canadian firm producing cat treats which aren’t available in Poland.)

And special lagniappe today: readers Gethyn and Laurie in London have named the visiting next-door cat “Jerry Coyne.” Jerry sometimes comes over to visit their own cat, the famous espresso-drinking Theo (more about Theo on August 8). Here’s Jerry showing typical cat behavior “Follow me and pet me. . . wait, no, don’t. Rub my belly. . . no, don’t!”

It’s Sunday, July 24, 2016, and the heat continues, despite heavy showers last night.The high temperature today is predicted to be 93°F (34°C), but it’s supposed to cool off tomorrow. That, of course, is what they said for the weekend, and it did not cool off.

in Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and Bolivia they’re celebrating Simón Bolívar Day. That’s because he was born on this day in 1783. Other events occurring on July 24 include the discovery of Machu Picchu by Hiram Bingham in 1911, the record temperature of 109 °F (43 °C) in Chicago in 1935 due to the “Dust Bowl Heat Wave,” the safe splashdown of Apollo 11 in the Pacific (1969), and the Supreme Court’s decision, in 1974, that Nixon had to turn over the Watergate tapes. It was the beginning of the end for him.

Notables born on this day, besides Simón Bolívar, include Alexandre Dumas (1802), Amelia Earhart (1897), Zelda Fitzgerald (1900), and Jennifer Lopez (1969). Those who died on this day include Wilfrid Noyce (1962), Peter Sellers (1980), and Isaac Bashevis Singer (1991). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, the cherry harvest is almost over, but there are still some left on the trees to be picked, and other goodies as well:

Hili: Even mice wouldn’t eat that.

A: But we will.

Hili: Won’t it upset your stomachs?

In Polish:

Hili: Tego by nawet myszy nie zjadły.
Ja: A my zjemy.
Hili: Nie zaszkodzi wam?

And big news: Leon and his staff have found a nice wooden house! They will have it disassembled and transported to near Wroclawek this summer, and should be moved in by fall. Leon is celebrating with a barbecue:

Leon: Let’s put a mouse on the grill.

It’s Saturday, July 23, and the “heat dome” over Chicago, which is broiling much of the U.S., is predicted to abate. It’s National Hot Dog Day in the U.S., so go out and have a Chicago-style dog: the best of all possible dogs. It is an all-beef dog in a natural casing and resting happily on a Rosen’s poppy-seed bun, dressed with mustard, onions, relish, hot peppers, tomatoes, celery salt, and a pickle spear. Ordering ketchup on a dog is a felony in Chicago—as it should be everywhere.

On this day in history, in 1903, the Ford Motor Company sold its first car. Exactly 39 years later, the Treblinka concentration camp was opened in Poland.

Notables born on this day include Raymond Chandler (1888), Justice Anthony Kennedy (1936), and Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967, died 2014). Those who died on this day include Ulysses S. Grant (1885), D. W. Griffith (1948), Eudora Welty (2001), Amy Winehouse (2011 ♥), and Sally Ride (2012). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili attacked from her hiding behind a wicker chair:

Hili: How did you know I was here?

A: Somebody sank her claws into my back.

Hili: Skąd wiedziałeś, że ja tu jestem?
Ja: Bo ktoś mi wbijał pazury w plecy.

We have special lagniappe today. The heat continues to sap all of us in the central U.S. This photo was sent by reader Blue in Iowa:

And in southern Poland, Leon is taking intermittent hikes as he and his staff search for a house.

Leon: Another 500 meters up the hill and then I will walk by myself.

I sent my godcat Gus a present for his third birthday. It’s a Canadian license plate shaped like a polar bear, but it also looks like Gus. For a while several decades ago, both the Northwest Territories and Manitoba had polar bear-shaped license plates (God love the Canadians!), and I bought one on eBay for Gus. See the resemblance?

Finally, this picture was taken exactly two years ago yesterday. I like it (as does Hili), so I’m putting it up again.

It’s July 21, 2016, which means it’s Racial Harmony Day in Singapore. I’m sure it will be peaceful there, as it always is—by decree. On this day in history, in 1865, what’s considered the first Western showdown took place, as Wild Bill Hickok shot down Davis Tutt in Springfield, Missouri. In 1944, Hitler’s minions executed Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators for a failed plot to assassinate der Führer on July 20. And on this day in 1983, the Vostok Station in Antarctica recorded the lowest temperature ever in a place where people lived: −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F).

Notables born on this day include Ernest Hemingway (1899), Cat Stevens (aka Yusuf Islam, 1948), Garry Trudeau (also 1948), and Robin Williams (1951, died 2014). Those who died on this day include pilot and astronaut Alan Shepard, American admiral, pilot, and astronaut (1998). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, it’s the cherry harvest, which I’ll miss, but am still promised pies every day. Hili is supervising the harvest but also fishing for compliments. To be sure, she’s looking very svelte:

Hili: Cats are beautiful.

A: I agree, in principle.

Hili: Good. I don’t like to argue.

Hili: Koty są piękne.
Ja: W zasadzie się zgadzam.
Hili: To dobrze, bo nie lubię się spierać.

Leon and his staff are still looking for a wooden house to dismantle and move up north; but Leon’s still taking his walks:

Leon: What? Haven’t you ever seen a wild cat?

Even our Canadian neighbors are suffering from the heat. Out in Winnipeg, Gus was prostrate with the extreme temperature, which was at least 34° C (40° C with the humidity index):

Here’s a print: “Cats Nightmare” by Louis Wain, an English artist whose paintings of cats, which varied from normal depictions to horrendous nightmare cats, are often used to illustrate the progression of schizophrenia.But as I discussed a while back, this progression was ordered not temporally, but in increasing degree of bizarreness. This picture does seem a bit bizarre:

Finally, we have a cat conforming to principles of natural beauty. Yes, I know it’s supposed to be a “Furbonacci Spiral,” but I didn’t make this picture.

As one of my friends used to quip in the morning, “Rise—and grease the new day!” It’s Monday, July 11, and World Population Day, so please be aware of Earth’s increasing population. But there’s nothing any of us can do about it. It will be bloody hot today, with a high of 93°F  (33°C), a temperature that would kill many soft northern Europeans.

On this day in 1803, Aaron Burr mortally wounded Alexander Hamilton in their famous duel, now a centerpiece of the Broadway musical “Hamilton,” which no mortal can afford to see. In 1924, the Muscular Christian Eric Liddell (“Chariots of Fire”) won the 400 m dash in the Olympics after having refused to run the 100-meter dash on The Lord’s Day. He later became a missionary in China and died in a Japanese internment camp in 1943. Finally, on July 11, 1960, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockinbird was published.

Notables born on this day include E. B. White (1899), Harold Bloom (1930), Sela Ward (♥; 1956), Suzanne Vega (1959) and Jhumpa Lahiri (1967). Those who died on this day include George Gershwin (1937), Laurence Olivier (1989), and Lady Bird Johnson (2007).  Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili and Cyrus are sniffing:

Hili: We are on the right track.

Cyrus: On the right track of what?

Hili: Of something that went here.

Cyrus: Jesteśmy na tropie.
Hili: Na tropie czego?
Cyrus: Na tropie tego co tu szło.

In nearby Wrocklawek, the Dark Tabby Leon is excited because his staff is building a new home in the country where all of them will eventually move. But right now the entire family is going to southern Poland to buy an old wooden house that will be taken apart and reassembled on their new land. Leon is going along to supervise and ensure that the house is to his liking. There are many beautiful old wooden houses in that part of Poland (see here for examples), and there are companies that will disassemble them and then reassemble them elsewhere.

Leon: Did I pack everything?

And out in the wilds of Winnipeg, Gus assumes The Position:

A busy week ahead: a trip to Boston and Cambridge (MA) for six days, which means posting will be lighter than usual. We’ll leave out the history today except to say that on this day in 1929, the first talking Mickey Mouse cartoon, “The Karnival Kid,” was released. Click on the screenshot at bottom to see it. On May 31, 1930, Clint Eastwood was born, and on this day in 1976, Jacques Monod died. Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is trying to be helpful. The weather is lovely now, and she spends nights out on the tiles.

Hili: Look, starlings are devouring neighbour’s sweet cherries.

A: I’m glad they are not mine.

Hili: They have already devoured yours.

Hili: Patrz, szpaki zżerają sąsiadom czereśnie.
Ja: Dobrze, że nie moje.
Hili: Twoje już zjadły.

In nearby Wroclawek, Leon is kvetching:

Leon: This Japanese willow is rather puny. Impossible to sit on it!

And in Winnipeg, Gus found a nice place to sleep:

Finally, Mickey Mouse makes his first vocal appearance: The Karnival Kid; click the screenshot to see it. There’s Minnie the Love Interest, singing cats, talking hot dogs—what more do you want?